The number of chain explosions and the monsters moving around had significantly decresed . The party had been running away up to this point, but they decided to mount a counterattack . They killed all the remaining monsters quickly .

  They had been exposed to almost thirty minutes of constant explosions, so there was a ringing in their ears .

  Sungyoon and his party members sat in a corner to rest for a little bit .

  “Is this our first time fighting a large scale battle?”


  When Grace spoke, the rest of them tilted their heads in puzzlement .

  Tim spoke up as the representative .

  “Can this really be called a battle?”


  It was technically a fight, but they had mostly run away from the explosions and the crystal shrapnels . They never fought a proper battle .

  “Still, they were unusually easy foes . Even if they rushed us with great numbers, we just needed to create a chain explosion and move into the space created by the explosion . Although, the Reverse Gravity did cause us a bit of trouble . . . ”


  “That’s not true at all, Ms . Emily . ”


  Grace shook her head from side to side .

  “If we had let the crystal monsters get close to us like all the other monsters, they would have self-destructed in front of us . We would have been assaulted by the chain explosions at close range . ”


  “Ah!”


  Emily’s face turned a shade paler .

  “Mr . Sungyoon and Mr . Tim would have been fine, but the rear support would have been in trouble . ”


  They were only wearing robes that amplified their spells . It provided way less defense compared to the armor .

  She let out a burst of small laughter .

  “It’s like going through a hazing ritual . It’s as if the middle stages of the Great Labyrinth wanted to give us a rough greeting . ”


  “It really is like that . ”


  While the two women conversed with each other, Sungyoon stood up .

  “I’ll go retrieve the moonstones . ”


  “I’ll help you . ”


  Emily stood up . Tim and Grace also followed after them .

  The monsters had come to Sungyoon’s party in waves . It meant a massive amount of moonstones were spread across the floor .

  The moonstones were as big as basketballs, and one could create a hill using the moonstones . If Sungyoon did it by himself, it would have taken him a very long time to gather all the moonstones . After they went through the great trouble of gathering all the moonstones, Sungyoon’s party moved on .

  “This place is driving me nuts . ”


  Tim mumbled to himself . However, the rest of the party felt the same way as him .

  Boom!

  A large ball of fire fell next to them .

  The party jumped to the side, so they wouldn’t be hit by a stray spark .

  Gahhhhhhhhh!

  A bizarre sound rang out . It wasn’t the sound created by a living creature . It was the sound of pressurized steam forcing itself out from between the rocks .

  Beings made out of large burning rocks appeared in front of them .

  It was as if rocks of various sizes were put together to create a humanoid shape . Red flames leaked out from the crevices in a threatening manner .

  There were three of them . Tim, who was the shield of the party, put up his guard .

  ‘Then there’s that…… . ’


  Sungyoon’s eyes headed towards the sky .

  Boom!

  Another fireball fell from the sky . This time it fell behind the party .

  ‘Is this what the end of the world would look like?’


  Tim looked into the distance . The sky was full of falling balls of fire .

  Boom!

  Tim blocked a fist that was as big as his upper body .

  Tim was busy blocking the flurry of attacks from the three monsters .

  If he wasn’t careful, his party members might be attacked .

  Tim focused on blocking .

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  He deflected the frontal attacks to the side, and he intercepted any overhand blows with his ax . His senses were pushed to the limit .

  “I got it!”


  Grace, who was behind him, yelled out loud . As soon as Tim disengaged from the fight, cold energy swept forth .

  Zzuhk! Zzuh-zuh-zuh-zuh-zuhk!

  The flames from the monsters lessened . Their movements slowed, and in the end, they came to a complete stop .

  ‘They are doing well . ’


  Sungyoon was watching how his party members fared . They were showing a considerable amount of teamwork even without Sungyoon, and they were taking care of the monsters by themselves .

  At that moment, Sungyoon was . . .

  Kwah-jeek!

  He stepped on the head of the fallen monster .

  Its body was destroyed, so it was powerless against Sungyoon’s stomp .

  Boom! Boom!

  Another monster approached Sungyoon as if it wanted to crush him .

  Hoo-oong!

  It swung its fist . Sungyoon dodged the attack by moving his upper body, then he swung his sword .

  Kwah-kwah-kwah-kwahng!

  The sound of thunder rang out as light flashed .

  The giant’s arm was severed as large and small rocks fell to the ground .

  The flames dissipated, and the black scorch mark from the powerful lightning was left behind .

  Sungyoon took a step forward to get close to the giant’s abdomen, and he swung his hammer .

  Kwahng!

  The giant’s abdomen exploded . As with the arm, its body parts turned into the normal rock as it was sent flying into the surrounding .

  This was the sixth giant destroyed by Sungyoon .

  Sungyoon had evolved his Gems by eliminating Golems, and he had become too powerful .

  He had entered the middle stages of the Great Labyrinth, yet he probably could hunt there by himself without much problem . The power difference between him and his party members was too big now .

  Of course, Sungyoon was able to evolve the Gems of his comrades, but there was a limit to how much he could evolve the Gems . Their Devices were the limiting factor .

  Even if they possessed high rank Gems, most of them possessed either Platinum or Gold rank Gems . He couldn’t evolve them any further .

  However, Sungyoon didn’t even entertain the idea of disbanding his party .

  It was hard to find people that he trusted, and he liked his current party members .

  Moreover, they had entered the Great Labyrinth way ahead of schedule . This was why he planned on slowly leading them forward .

  Puh-uhk!

  The spear blade of the halberd cleanly pierced through the burning head of the giant .

  Sungyoon returned to his party .

  “Are you guys ok?”


  “Of course! This is nothing!”


  Tim spoke with confidence . It was clear he wasn’t lying, and Sungyoon could tell Tim hadn’t overextended himself .

  Sungyoon had just become too strong, so they looked weak in comparison . However, their Gems were effective in this place .

  Kwahng!

  A fireball flew past above their heads to land nearby . The party quickly gathered the moonstones .

  In the distance, they could see fire tornadoes razing the ground . Then there were the balls of fire that kept falling to the ground . The fire was everywhere .

  “What do you think will come out next?”


  Tim spoke as he looked around at the hell-like landscape . Sungyoon answered him .

  “At the very least, it won’t be normal . ”


  ***

  After clearing a decent amount of floors in the middle stages of the Great Labyrinth, Sungyoon’s party returned to Armstrong .

  However, they could tell something was off with Armstrong .

  “Did something happen while we were gone?”


  Grace looked at her surroundings as she spoke .

  “There’s no way more Golems made an appearance, right?”


  “Stop saying such awful things!”


  Emily shuddered at Tim’s words .

  Sungyoon looked at his surroundings . Fortunately, he didn’t hear any explosions . None of the sectors of the city were partitioned off .

  “At the very least, no battle had taken place in Armstrong . ”


  The party relaxed a little bit .

  Tim stopped a passerby to ask a question .

  “Excuse me . Did something happen in Armstrong?”


  The man looked a bit annoyed as he looked at Tim . However, his eyes widened when he saw Sungyoon and Grace . He spoke in a polite manner .

  “Something happened to the city built by China and Russia . ”


  “Something bad happened?”


  “Yes . We are unable to contact them . However, they were able to send a message out before the communication was cut off . They said their city was being attacked by monsters . ”


  The faces of Sungyoon’s party hardened .

  “They were attacked by monsters? Are you sure about this?”


  “I heard it through the grapevine . There haven’t been any official statements yet . However, I know for sure that Armstrong is gathering all their high rank Connectors . According to the rumor, it is for the defense of this city . It seems you just came out of the Great Labyrinth . You’ll probably get a call from the higher-ups soon . ”


  Defense . It was an odd subject to discuss when discussing Armstrong .

  The monsters didn’t come out of the labyrinths, and the only hub of humanity on the moon was Armstrong . This had been true for the longest time .

  However, this common knowledge had been subverted recently . It all started when Armstrong city was attacked by the Golems .

  The party started moving towards the transport company to offload the moonstones .

  “Ah . Mr . Woo Sungyoon and his party members!”


  The receptionist brightened when he saw them .

  “The mayor wants to see all of you . ”


  ***

  Gagarin·Yang City .

  China and Russia started building their own city when they saw weakness from Armstrong city . They created the city to take away the labyrinths and moonstones from the Western civilization, which was anchored by the US . It was a city created with great ambition in mind .

  However, their city was currently being destroyed as if it was a bad dream .

  The city was surrounded by monsters . Monsters kept pouring into the city through the several holes created in the outer walls .

  The Connectors were desperately trying to stem the tide .

  Kwahhhhhng!

  One of the buildings inside the city blew up .

  “What the hell! Where did that explosion come from!”


  “I’m pretty sure that’s the communication station . . . ”


  “What?”


  The Connectors, who had been desperately holding back the waves of monsters, turned to look behind them .

  They caught sight of a burning building . It was completely destroyed .

  “Shit! Does that mean we can’t contact earth anymore? What does that mean for our reinforcement!”


  Someone yelled out loud . He sounded downtrodden .

  “Even if we continue to send messages to earth, they can’t immediately send reinforcement! We already contacted Armstrong city! Hold out until they come . ”


  “Why the hell would they come to save us!”


  “I don’t know, you son of a bitch! Kill more monsters instead of talking!”


  He had reached the limit of his patience when his comrades kept asking questions . He swung his mace at a nearby monster .

  “Why did our communication station blow up suddenly!”


  “I told you to just fight…… I have no idea! Maybe some idiot pressed the self-destruct button!”


  “Do you think monsters have already infiltrated that deep?”


  “I’d rather you shut up instead of talking like that!”


  However, they continued to bicker with each other . It seemed they weren’t too pressed at that moment .

  “Shit! It is too hard to move because of the wind!”


  Air was being sucked out of the holes in the wall . Soon, all the air inside the city would be gone .

  Connectors didn’t breathe, so they weren’t worried about that . However, it would be a big problem if the Connectors couldn’t talk to each other .

  ‘Still, I think we can last for a while . . . ’


  He became hopeful, but his hope was broken into pieces by the appearance of a particular monster -

  Hmm . Even if these are low-rank monsters, they are holding up better than expected .

  The first thing his eyes went to was the breasts of a naked female .

  There was something inhuman about her, but she had a beautiful face .

  Moreover, she didn’t wear a stitch of clothes, so some might think she was being overtly sexual . However, none of the Connectors were aroused by her appearance .

  “.……what the hell is that?”


  Someone spoke -

  ‘That’? Are you referring to me?

  Her upper body turned slowly . It looked as if her upper body was turning in mid air .

  However, that wasn’t the case . Her long lower body moved in a way that reinforced this illusion .

  Her lower body was that of a snake .

  “.……it spoke?”
-

  Of course, I spoke . Did you think the speech is only exclusive to humans?

  “This is crazy! Shit!”
-

  You must be confused . It is understandable . You probably have no idea what is going on right now . However, that doesn’t matter . You guys are in our way .

  Her name was Glaia, and she raised her two hands -

  Just die .

  Chwahk!

  Her fingernails extended forward . They were sharp as knives .

  Glaia ruthlessly swung her fingernails .

  Suh-guhk! Suh-guhk!

  Weapons, shields, and armor were useless against her .

  Everything that got in the path of her fingernails was cut .

  “Ooh! Ooh-ahhhhhhhk!”


  A man yelled after his arm was severed . Those that had their head or body severed died instantly -

  I’m sorry . I’m inexperienced at this, so I made you feel pain . Don’t worry . I’ll end your pain soon .

  She let out a cruel laugh as she raised her hand to finish the deed .

  It happened at that moment .

  Tuh-ung!

  A spear had flown towards her, and she deflected it .

  “Back off . ”


  A man slowly approached her .

  Alexei Volkov .

  He was always mentioned when one discussed who was the strongest Connector in Russia .

  “I’ll take care of that monster . ”


  He picked up his spear from the ground as he spoke .

  The nearby Connectors eyed him as they slowly moved away from Glaia . They focused on attacking the other monsters .

  Glaia looked at her fingernails . There was a tingling sensation coming from them .

  ‘Even if my power was reduced, I can tell this one will cause me some trouble . ’


  The fight against all the other Connectors felt like a walk in the park . However, the man in front of her was a formidable opponent .

  Glaia’s sharp eyes glared at him . However, she didn’t get to fight against Volkov .

  “I’m sorry, Glaia . Do you mind if I take care of him?”


  Someone walked up next to Glaia . Volkov frowned when he saw who it was . Volkov knew him well .

  “.……why are you standing next to her, Sung Hyunwoo?”


  Hyunwoo let out a smile full of meaning .